Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002

This act has been superseded by the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill.

Provisions included:

• Country-of-origin labeling for fresh beef, pork, and lamb

The following is the subsidies by crop in 2004 in the United States.

Source USDA 2006 Fiscal Year Budget[2]

• Rep. Larry Combest (R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, drafts and sponsors initial house farm bill. His proposal would spend the equivalent of the entire federal budget surplus for FY2001, and included $76 billion in new spending on top of the previous bill's spending, for a total of $171 billion.
• Rep. Terry Everett (R-AL), owner of 400 acres (1.6 km²) of peanut crops, drafted $3.5 billion peanut provision in Title I
• Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), Majority Leader, reassured South Dakotans that commodity subsidies would not be diminished as a result of heightened national security concerns. Credited with prioritizing the Senate version of the farm bill.

• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) brought an amendment to shift $19 billion from commodities (Title I) to conservation (Title II) (amendment fails 10/4/2001, 200–226)
  • Kind plans to re-introduce the content of his failed amendment in the next farm bill, with his Healthy Farms and Forests Act of 2006. This is the first farm bill to be proposed in the current cycle, and may form the foundation of the 2008 farm bill.
• Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) co-sponsored the Kind amendment. He looked to Florida fruit and vegetable growers for support, because they received no subsidies in 2001. "The inability to persuade more Florida members to vote yes was a key to its defeat." [4]
• Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-MD) also co-sponsored the Kind amendment.
• Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA) brought an amendment to put $650 million into renewable energy, which failed (10/3/2001)
• Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, revised the House bill (H.R.2646) for passage in the Senate. After the passage of the House version, he told reporters about his ideas for "green" payments rewarding conservation methods.
• Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-MN) spoke for many legislators who complained that this was a "farm bill not an environmental bill" (10/4)

The largest difference between the House bill and its Senate counterpart was that the total amount of subsidies received by an individual farmer was capped by the Senate. Voicing concerns that "millionaire farmers" were reaping all the benefits of the farm bill legislation, a coalition of farm-state Senators pushed for these limits.

• Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) was vehement about lowering subsidy caps from $500,000 to $225,000 "we don't want 10 percent of the farmers getting 60 percent of the farm bill." [5]
• Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) cosponsored the subsidy cap amendment.
• Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) supported subsidy caps "I believe, along with most Nebraskans, that our farm program should discourage consolidation in agriculture... These enormous payments do exactly the opposite."
• Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) opposed capping subsidies. Lincoln was the only Democrat in opposition. Cochran said the caps would be "catastrophic for southern farm interests" [6]

After September 11, the farm bill was considered problematic for three reasons. First, it would neither receive nor deserve the careful attention necessary during the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Second, its expenditures would consume the entire budget surplus, money that could be necessary for the American invasion of Afghanistan. Finally, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman opposed the new farm bill. On September 19, her office issued a report criticizing traditional agricultural policies and calling for a shift from subsidies to conservation. According to her assessments, commodity subsidies would lead to overproduction and expensive land.[7] Her position was supported by various other groups and legislators.

• The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a formal manifesto (10/3) opposing the initial farm bill, calling it expensive and unresponsive to changes in agriculture.
• Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), a farmer with a modest operation, was outraged that the farm bill remained on Congressional agendas after the terrorist attacks. (Omaha Herald 9/27/01)
  • Agreeing with Secretary Veneman and the White House, he argued that the farm bill causes overproduction so bad "we've got it coming out of our ears."
  • Proposed 6 percent payment to cover premium on crop insurance instead of guaranteeing income. (1/21)
• Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) also opposed the revised bill, concerned that it will continue to subsidize overproduction.

With mounting opposition from both sides of the aisle, the fate of the farm bill was unclear in early 2002. Anxious farmers were frustrated by the gridlocked Senate, which had promised a quick resolution to the impending expiration of the previous bill. The emergence of the Eggplant Caucus, so named for a major New Jersey crop, was a major factor in the passage of the bill.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) saw the opportunity for what he considered to be a more fair and equitable farm bill, and sought to unite over 20 senators from states with less powerful farming interests in support of subsidies for specialty crops and conservation. Active members of the Eggplant Caucus included Senators Hillary Clinton, Charles E. Schumer, and Harry Reid.

September 10, 2001: $171 billion, 10-year farm bill (with $73 billion in new spending) reported out of committee, to be considered by the full House of Representatives.

September 11: September 11, 2001 attacks

September 19: Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman criticizes traditional farm policy, calls for a shift from commodity subsidies to conservation measures

September 27: Secretary Veneman criticizes the new bill as expensive in post-9/11 budget, claims it will lead to overproduction and expensive land.

October 2: Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) introduces an amendment to shift $19 billion (approx. 15%) of commodity subsidies to conservation measures.

October 2: Rep. Larry Combest (R-TX), farm bill sponsor, threatens to pull the bill if it is amended.

October 3: Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA), proposes shifting $650 million to ethanol, amendment fails.

October 4: Kind amendment falls 26 votes short, fails.

October 5: 10 year, $73 billion farm bill increase passes in the House of Representatives.

Source: (H.R.2646)

October 24: Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) reject Sec. Veneman's request that the Senate delay consideration of the farm bill to focus on war effort.

December 14: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and his Eggplant Caucus add dramatic increases in conservation spending ($21.3 billion). Co-sponsors Nelson and Harkin cut the House version in half (5 year life, $45 billion in new spending).

January 17, 2002: Spurred by a website listing absentee landlords of huge farms, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) supports an amendment to cap subsidy payments at $225,000. Amendment passes, shifting $1.3 billion to programs for beginning farmers.

February 14: Senate passes a 5-year version of the bill, with a $45 billion spending increase, by a 58:40 vote.

Source: (S. 1731)

March 19: After two weeks of closed door negotiations, House agrees to $17 billion for conservation.

April 19: House passes non-binding resolution capping subsidies at $275,000 per farm (a $50,000 increase from the Senate bill).

April 26: Final version agreed upon: $360,000 subsidy cap, $17.1 billion for conservation. Expected to cost a total of $190 billion over ten years, an increase of over $90 billion (expires in September, 2007, six years later)

May 13: The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 signed into law by President Bush (video)